My invention lies in the field of plumbing, particularly lawn watering systems.
Most lawn watering systems employing pop-up watering heads consist of two or more water piping lines having conventional tees at intervals, determined by the designed watering pattern. Instead of having a tee at the end of each line, a 90.degree. elbow is generally used.
These tees have a slip-fit opening at each end and a threaded riser. The 90.degree. elbow has one slip-fit end and a threaded riser. The pipe used to make the line, and the tees and elbows are made of PVC, and are joined together by PVC cement. Each water piping line is placed in a trench in the lawn area it is designed to water. These lines will be referred to as the underground water piping system.
The beginning end of each water piping line is connected to a cycling device, which in turn is connected to the incoming water supply. The flow of water to each water piping line is controlled by an electric clock, which activates the cycling device by a solenoid or solenoids.
The pop-up heads are connected to the tees and 90.degree. elbow by pipe nipples of varying length to make the top of each head flush with the ground surface.
It is most important in installing the water piping lines, and after the system is complete and operating, to keep any foreign matter from entering the underground water piping system.
Keeping the underground water piping system free of foreign matter during installation of the water piping lines, the pipe nipples, and the pop-up heads is simply a matter of care. However, once the lawn watering system is complete and operating, potential problems exist in pop-up watering heads when foreign matter, such as soil, sand and debris enter the pop-up head either through the nozzle opening or through the area between the outside diameter of the pop-up cylinder and the hole in the cover through which it rises and retracts. This foreign matter may partially clog or completely clog the nozzle opening and may score the outside of the pop-up cylinder and the sides of the hole in the cover through which it rises and retracts keeping the pop-up cylinder from rising to its required operating level.
An additional potential problem is the nozzle's unscrewing from the pop-up cylinder and allowing sand, soil, small stones and debris to enter the pop-up head.
Correcting any of these problems requires unscrewing the pop-up head cover, in which the pop-up cylinder and nozzle are assembled, from the head casing.
Most times the cover's threaded connection is the tightest of three system threaded connections--the other two being the threaded connection of the pop-up head to the pipe nipple and the pipe nipple to the tee or 90.degree. elbow making it impossible to unscrew the cover by hand.
There are two alternatives--one being grasping the cover and turning the whole pop-up head, thereby unscrewing the entire head from the nipple, or the pipe nipple from the tee or 90.degree. elbow depending upon which is the tighter. Either removal point allows the surrounding soil, sand, small stones and debris to enter the underground water piping system resulting in other pop-up heads further down the line being clogged or scored, thus exacerbating the problem.
The other alternative is to remove sufficient sod, soil, sand, and stones from around the pop-up head to allow the casing and cover to be grasped by wrenches to remove the pop-up head cover. This is a time consuming job and lawn marring operation and, of course, this method cannot be used if the whole pop-up head must be replaced.
The way to keep foreign matter, such as soil, sand, small stones, and debris from entering into the underground water piping system when a pop-up head is removed for repair or replacement is to have a barrier between the threaded riser of the tee or 90.degree. elbow, the pipe nipple connecting the head to the threaded riser of the tee or 90.degree. elbow, and the casing of the pop-up head, with the barrier encasing almost all of the casing by extending to within a short distance of the cover of the pop-up head, leaving only sufficient space to place a wide rubber band around the top of the retaining housing and the casing, to seal the slight circumferential area between them--the casing being my generic name for the outside shell of the pop-up head which has the threaded entrance in the bottom, to which the pipe nipple is connected, and a threaded top to which the cover is connected.
There is no such barrier on the market.
My invention not only creates such a barrier, but several versions of that barrier, with all parts being molded of PVC or other plastic material by conventional methods.
The basic building block of my invention is a retaining housing which is about 40% longer than the pop-up head with a wall thickness not greater than the wall thickness of the slip-fit opening of the conventional tee and 90.degree. elbow used in lawn watering systems.
The conventional tee and 90.degree. elbow used in lawn watering systems are also used. They are, however, modified.
Another building block is an adapter to add height to the retaining housing if additional height is required to bring the height of the retaining housing to within the short distance of the pop-up head cover required.
Another building block is a retaining housing cap which makes it possible for only three different diameter retaining housings to be used for the many different pop-up heads manufactured, thus allowing standardization of the retaining housings which would lower the cost for the manufacturer, and reduce the inventory which would have to be carried by the wholesalers and retailers, resulting in a lower cost to the consumer.
The first version is--a one piece molded combination retaining housing and tee, and one piece molded retaining housing adapters.
The tee portion will be the same as the conventional tee used in lawn watering systems, but with the threaded riser being a little longer than the slip-fit opening.
The inside diameter of the retaining housing would be slightly greater than the outside diameter of the casing of the pop-up head for which this part would be made--just large enough to allow free turning of the pop-up head within the retaining housing.
The length of the retaining housing would be about 40% longer than the pop-up head, to allow for the pipe nipple and still have the retaining housing encase all, or at least part, of the casing of the pop-up head.
The wall thickness of the retaining housing may be the same as the wall thickness of the slip-fit opening of the tee if desired for molding purposes.
However, if a thinner wall may be molded the wall thickness may be thinner, since there is no water pressure against the wall, but only the slight pressure of the soil, sand, and stones which surround the retaining housing. Making the wall thinner would, of course, result in the consumer paying less for the part.
At times a pop-up head is hit by a lawn mower, and sometimes that impact is sufficient to move the pop-up head from its normal vertical position. Generally the tee is not damaged since the pipe nipple having flexibility simply pulls out of the tee or the pop-up head. Foreign matter, of course, enters the underground water piping system.
To assure that the tee is not damaged using my invention, since the retaining housing of the one piece molded combination retaining housing and tee would add rigidity to the pop-up head and pipe nipple, there will be a space in the one piece molding between the bottom of the retaining housing and the top of the slip-fit portion of the tee. This will allow the retaining housing to either bend or crack where it joins the outside of the threaded riser of the tee. If it bends or cracks, it may be bent back. Any foreign matter which might enter through the crack will not cause a problem since it will be below the top of the threaded riser of the tee.
An alternative would be to not have this space between the retaining housing and the top of the slip-fit portion of the tee, but rather have the bottom of the retaining housing and the slip-fit portion of the tee form an integral wall, since if a system is properly installed and maintained, and care is taken in mowing the lawn, the movement of a pop-up head should not occur.
Covers similar to the flexible plastic covers used on coffee cans would be used to cover the top of the retaining housings during installation.
It is nigh on to impossible, and certainly not cost effective, to install the underground water piping system at a precise depth below ground level.
The varying depths of the tees and 90.degree. elbows in the conventional system cause no problem. The pop-up heads are simply installed so that their tops are flush with the ground level by using varying lengths of pipe nipples.
The pop-up heads will still be set at their proper level in the same manner using my invention. However, the pipe nipple and the pop-up head will be installed within the retaining housing, but installed temporarily.
Upon this temporary installation, the height of the top of the retaining housing will be marked on the casing of the pop-up head.
The pop-up heads will then be removed and the height each retaining housing must be increased to bring it to its required level will be recorded--this required level being, as close to the cover of the pop-up head as possible, and still allow a wide rubber band to be placed around the top of the retaining housing and casing to seal the slight circunferential opening between them.
The height of each retaining housing will be increased by adding an adapter or adapters. These adapters would have a wall thickness the same as the wall thickness of the retaining housing, except where the diameters change the wall thickness would be double for a short distance, with one end sized to slip-fit over the end of the retaining housing, and the other end having the same inside diameter as the inside diameter of the retaining housing.
The adapters will be made to add six different lengths, namely 1/4", 1/2", 3/4", 1", 2", and 3".
After each retaining housing is brought to its required height by adding an adapter or adapters, the pop-up head will be reinstalled and a wide rubber band placed around the top of the retaining housing adapter and casing of the pop-up head, to seal the slight circumferential area between them.
I would like to state that while slip-fitting is well known and widely used, there has never been on the market, a one piece slip-fitting part, such as my adapter, to add short lengths to a pipe or other cylindrical shapes. It may readily be seen how important my invented adapter is to my overall invention.
There may be occasions when the retaining housing is too long, because the underground water piping system has been set close to the ground level.
When this happens, the retaining housing may be cut off by a hand PVC cutter, after a long pipe nipple has been attached to the tee to keep cutting swirls from entering the underground water piping system. Any cutting swirls dropping to the bottom of the retaining housing may be removed with a long nose tool.
Now that we know that there is no foreign matter in the underground water piping system and no soil, sand, small stones, and debris in contact with the threaded riser of the tee, the pipe nipple and most of the pop-up head, how do we make sure that the soil, sand, small stones, and debris which is in contact with the wide rubber band and cover of the pop-up head will not enter the system when we remove a pop-up head for repair or replacement?
To remove a pop-up head, a garden trowel would be placed against the outside diameter of the cover of the pop-up head in several places, and pushed down to just below the bottom of the wide rubber band, and the handle pushed away from the cover, thus forming a "V" in the surrounding soil or sand, but not eroding it.
The cover and the wide rubber band would be brushed clean by a small paint brush, and then the rubber band would be removed. The pop-up head could then be removed without any soil, sand, small stones, and debris entering the underground water piping system. The retaining housing, of course, would be covered by a flexible plastic cover while the pop-up head is being repaired.
In presenting the other five versions of my invention, I will not repeat the specifications and discussion of the "one piece molded combination retaining housing and tee," where they apply to the other five versions as well.
I will state only the specifications which are different, and what those differences are.
The second version is--a one piece molded combination retaining housing and 90.degree. elbow, and one piece molded retaining housing adapters.
The only difference in this version is that a conventional 90.degree. elbow used in lawn watering systems, but with the threaded riser being a little longer than the slip-fit opening is used, instead of the conventional tee with the longer threaded riser.
The third version is--a one piece molded retaining housing, and one piece molded retaining housing adapters.
In this version the retaining housing has a hole in the bottom slightly larger than the outside diameter of the threaded riser of a conventional tee and 90.degree. elbow used in lawn watering systems. In use, the hole in the bottom of the retaining housing slides over the conventional tee or 90.degree. elbow already installed in the underground water piping system, and comes to rest on the top of the slip-fit area of the tee or 90.degree. elbow.
The very slight circumferential open area between the hole in the retaining housing and the threaded riser of the tee or 90.degree. elbow will allow the retaining housing to move if the pop-up head were hit by a lawn mower, thus the threaded riser of the tee or 90.degree. elbow would not be damaged.
Any fine foreign matter which might enter the very slight open area will not enter the underground water piping system, since any fine foreign matter which did enter would be below the threaded riser opening of the tee or 90.degree. elbow.
The fourth version is--a one piece molded combination retaining housing and tee, one piece molded retaining housing adapters, and a one piece molded retaining cap.
While the tee portion is the same, the length of the retaining housing is the same, and the wall thickness options of the retaining housing are the same, there need be only three inside diameters of the retaining housing--one for small diameter pop-up heads, one for medium diameter pop-up heads, and one for large diameter pop-up heads, rather than many different inside diameters--one for each casing diameter, of all of the pop-up heads manufactured.
The required slightly greater inside diameter of the retaining housing than the outside diameter of the casing of the pop-up head required, to just allow free turning of the pop-up head within the retaining housing would be obtained by molded retaining housing caps.
Caps would be made for each of the three diameter retaining housings with one end slip-fitting over the top of the retaining housing, or its adapter.
The other end would be sized for each casing diameter of pop-up heads manufactured, and the height of this end would be only that required for placing the wide rubber band around the cap and the casing.
The wall thickness of the caps would be the same as the retaining housing.
Determining the required height of the retaining housing would be done in the same manner, and an adapter or adapters added if required. However, the cap height must be considered since the cap must be slip-fitted to the adapter, or to the retaining housing if no adapter is required.
The fifth version is--a one piece molded combination retaining housing and 90.degree. elbow, one piece molded retaining housing adapters, and a one piece molded retaining housing cap.
This is exactly the same as the fourth version, except that a conventional 90.degree. elbow used in lawn watering systems, but with the threaded riser being a little longer than the slip-fit opening, is used instead of the conventional tee with the longer threaded riser.
The sixth version is--a one piece molded retaining housing, one piece molded retaining housing adapters, and a one piece molded retaining housing cap.
In this version, the retaining housing has a hole in the bottom slightly larger than the outside diameter of the threaded riser of the conventional tee and 90.degree. elbow used in lawn watering systems.
In use, the hole in the bottom of the retaining housing slides over the conventional tee or 90.degree. elbow already installed in the underground water piping system, and comes to rest on the top of the slip-fit area of the tee or 90.degree. elbow.
The very slight circumferential open area between the hole in the retaining housing, and the threaded riser of the tee or 90.degree. elbow will allow the retaining housing to move if the pop-up head were hit by a lawn mower, thus the threaded riser of the tee or 90.degree. elbow would not be damaged.
Any fine foreign matter which might enter the very slight open area will not enter the underground water piping system, since any fine foreign matter which might enter would be below the threaded riser opening of the tee or 90.degree. elbow.
While the length of the retaining housing is the same, and the wall thickness options are the same, there need be only three inside diameters, one for small diameter pop-up heads, one for medium diameter pop-up heads, and one for large diameter pop-up heads, rather than many different inside diameters--one for each casing diameter of all of the pop-up heads manufactured.
The required slightly greater inside diameter of the retaining housing than the outside diameter of the casing of the pop-up head required for free turning of the pop-up head within the retaining housing, would be obtained by molded retaining housing caps.
Caps would be made for each of the three diameter retaining housings with one end slip-fitting over the top of the retaining housing, or its adapter.
The other end would be sized for each casing diameter of pop-up heads manufactured, and the height of this end would be only that required for placing the wide rubber band around the cap and the casing.
The wall thickness of the caps would be the same as the retaining housing.
Determining the required height of the retaining housing would be done in the same manner, and an adapter or adapters added if required. However, the cap height must be considered since the cap must be slip-fitted to the adapter, or to the retaining housing if no adapter is required.
Versions one and two would offer the most economical new installation, provided the decision was firm as to the diameter of pop-up heads which would be used.
Version three would allow conversion to the retaining housing concept for the vast number of lawn watering systems already installed.
Versions four, five and six offer the best opportunity for future standardization, since only three diameters of retaining housings would have to be manufactured to accomodate all pop-up heads manufactured.
It should be understood that while I have referred only to pop-up heads, other types of heads also could use these six versions of my invention.